Secret Places

Determining the value of a piece of TSCM equipment can be quite difficult as the gear is usually designed and built for one specific purpose, and it tends to be dramatically overprice due to its singular use nature. The price paid for new equipment is often needlessly high, and inflated beyond reason by the manufactures of the gear, but not always. Equipment manufactures sometimes scramble to hide the true value of the equipment, and sell the illusion of a function, or conceal true specifications while flaunting general capabilities. This list cuts though all the hype, marketing promises, and gets right down to how much should be paid or not paid for a certain piece of equipment. A company which makes TSCM equipment should be permitted a reasonable profit on their goods, but frequently there is price gouging instead. The joke is that anybody can take five pounds of bovine feces, paint it black, attach two antennas to it, publish a specification that is an utter fantasy and people will pay $5000 for it, just because everybody else doing sweeps has one.

All TSCM equipment listed here is Dual-use Munitions List Items (MLI), or Commerce Controlled List Items (CCLI). MLI/CCLI items are highly controlled by the U. S. Government, and cannot be transferred, exported, sold, or given, to a foreign country, a non-U. S. Citizen or National, or a non-permanent U. S. Citizen, without a valid State and/or Commerce Department Export authorization that is issued in advance, and which actually issues forth from the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community. Some equipment (or certain end users) even requires a formal authorization by the President of the United States for the transaction, and not even the DOS, DHS, DOC, DOD, DIA, or CIA can override this requirement.

It is the responsibility of the manufacture and of the end-user or purchaser, to comply with applicable requirements, and to obtain all necessary authorizations, licenses, or approvals to facilitate export, transport, possession, or acquisition. The use, disposition, export, import, or re-export of these items are subject to the provisions of law referencing written End-User Certification. Including, but not limited to, the Arms Export Control Act (22 USC 2751 et seq); Export Administration Act 1979 (50 USC App. 2041 et seq); as contained under Executive Order 12924; International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 CFR 120 et seq); Export Administration Regulations (15 CFR 730 et seq); Foreign Assets Control Regulations (31 CFR 500 et seq); and the Espionage Act (18 USC 793 et seq), the Wassenaar Arrangement, and other treaties and laws. Even providing TSCM training, to someone who is not a U.S. Citizen requires also requires State Department approvals.

All TSCM, TEMPEST, SIGINT, and related equipment without exception is all covered by "The United States Munitions List" under ITAR 121.1, Category XI(b) as Military and Space Electronics, as "electronic systems or equipment designed or modified to counteract electronic surveillance or monitoring."

Most TSCM equipment is considered a Tier 1 defense article, but some more simplistic devices, tools, or systems may qualify only as Tier 2 devices on the USML or "Munitions List". Further, most TSCM equipment also qualifies as ECCN 5A001.e and 5A001 equipment and is subject to the export licensing authority of the Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (22 CFR part 121).

By international treaty, most nations have laws that parallel these U.S. Laws (as arms controls), so that it is extremely difficult and costly to legitimately get this equipment across any borders of any country, and if you get caught with it, and you can not prove that you obtained in it very specific legitimate ways you could be in for a very awkward situation, but perhaps even not right away, but eventually.

This equipment, and this style of equipment and function of equipment was all initially designed by the U.S. Military, for purposes of military functions, and various companies evolved their products out of these military originated products, and then sold these new products back to the military which formed a closed loop that reinforced that these systems are still legally considered military arms.

Even if you are a U.S. Citizen and the equipment actually belongs to you and you are merely importing and importing it for your own use, you risk a forfeiture and seizure of all of your equipment that you are traveling with unless your paperwork is spot-on perfect.

Companies that manufacture TSCM and related equipment usually can not make a profit merely selling the equipment legitimately in their own country and they will often play games about the exportability of the gear, or will often falsify export paperwork in order to make an illegal sale (do not be taken for a fool). Generally, you should not trust what the company who actually makes the gear tells you, but instead seek the counsel of someone who actually works with a wide range of equipment across a range of companies and nations who can actually explain it in an unbiased way, these gurus, grey beards, engineers, and wizards can save you vast problems.

Better yet, go to your attorney, have then do some research, and then have THEM contact an expert in TSCM and assist them in gaining an in-depth understanding of the issues, then have them write inquiry letters to government agencies where the function and origin of the equipment is explained and ask for an official ruling from the government, in which your attorney then crafts into a legal memorandum. What the attorney eventually puts into their well researched memorandum will often dramatically be different then what the manufacture of the equipment will tell you.

As any legitimate approval for a transaction takes many weeks, and often months it is important to plan for notable delays, and not to wait until the very last minute to obtain needed gear. It is wisest for the actual end user to contact the U.S. Embassy in the country where the goods will ultimately be used, go through the interview and visitations process with them, initiate the end user approval process, and get approvals for the transaction six, eight, or even ten months in advance of the anticipated purchase from a cold-start. These pre-approvals are vital as they can usually reduce this approval time to less than 45 days (unless the customer is playing games). The custom in the industry is that once payment is made for the goods, the purchaser has only 90 days to perfect and consummate the shipment, so get as much pre-order approvals completed as possible (many companies have a deposit forfeiture policy if you do not get your export approval within 90 days, or double the regular approval cycle for ITAR 121.1 good for pre-approved entities).

Please call us if you have any questions, but generally, we will deal only with the actual end-user of the equipment, and will not deal with intermediaries, middle-men, or brokers. We always play it straight, we will not engage in export fraud, and we will have nothing to do with illegal arms shipments or trafficking. If you want to talk with a well recognized expert on these kinds of munitions and equipment, how to handle legitimate transaction, and avoid problems, then contact us, we can save you a lot of hassles.

The following list has four very important columns on the far right side, and these columns can save you many millions of dollars. To the far right is the last known retail price, and the Manufactures Suggested Retail Price taken from published price lists.

The next column is the New Fair Market Value price which is what you should be purchasing the unit for, provided that it is new, unused, fresh from the factory, and it a fully operational state. If you are paying more then this for a new item something is seriously wrong, and you are going about the purchase in a haphazard fashion and wasting your money.

The Used Fair Market Value column is the most valuable of all of these columns as it give you some idea of how much a used version of this equipment is worth. When possible a TSCM person should try to purchase used equipment as much as possible to help to conserve funds, and to avoid paying retail prices then the used equipment can be found at a reasonable price. Some new equipment holds its value well over time, yet other equipment essentially becomes valueless shortly after its initial retail sale. The prices in this column is what you should expect to pay on E-Bay, for equipment that is reasonably function and complete, but which may need a new battery, be lacking a manual, or have some minor part missing. This used value can be 25-35% less if the purchaser is acquiring it with the intention of reselling it. The value may also be greater if the unit has a notable collectable value, but this normally only applied to older equipment. This price will be to be adjusted downward based on what is missing, and also adjusted based on the reputation of the seller and the warranties provided. This is roughly what you should see the unit selling for on E-Bay.

The Parts Value column is how much a unit is worth when it is not complete, or of questionable functionality. It is what the unit is worth if complete but harvested for parts, or repaired in order to return to service. It is also what the unit likely cost to originally manufacture based on the parts inventory and labor involved. This number reflects the true value of the unit, and it can be drastically less then the MSRP or New Fair Market Value. If the unit is an incomplete carcass, or is damaged in someway the system may be worth only a half to a fourth this amount.

Equipment Price Index List

Part Number

Description

Parts Value

Used Fair Market Value

New Fair Market Value

MSRP $US

OSCOR-BLU8

OSCOR Blue Omni Spectral Correlator - 8 GHz
100 kHz to 8 GHz

$ 1,075

$ 1,840

$ 9,731

$ 17,125

OSCOR-BLU24

OSCOR Blue Omni Spectral Correlator - 24 GHz
100 kHz to 24 GHz

$ 1,375

$ 2,195

$ 14,645

$ 20,940

OSCOR-GRN24

OSCOR Green Omni Spectral Correlator - 24 GHz
100 kHz to 24 GHz

$ 1,375

$ 2,195

$ 14,645

$ 20,940

OSC-5000 v 3.0

OSCOR Omni Spectral Correlator
Version 3.0 or 4.0

$ 500

$ 4,270

$ 9,425

$ 13,500

OSC-5000 v 5.0

OSCOR Omni Spectral Correlator
Version 5.0

System Includes:

OSC-5000 OSCOR - Base System - Version 5.0

OVM-5000 Video Option - Multiformat

OVP-5000 Video Patch cord

OTL-5000 Triangulate and Locate Option

MPA-5000 Modular Phone Adapter

CLA-5000 Cigarette Lighter Adaptor

LPE-5000 Locator Probe Extension Cable

MIC-5000 Microphone (for remote monitoring)

MPC-5000 Multi-Purpose Cable

Includes PC Software

$ 1,300

$ 2,450

$ 9,950

$ 16,885

OE5-5000

OSCOR Omni Spectral Correlator
Version 3.0 or 4.0 to 5.0 Hardware Only Upgrade

Mason A2 TSCM Receiver System
1964+ Vintage (ex-government unit, with sub-carrier)Collectable Unit w/ History
2 kHz to 1.2 GHz Coverage
Note: There were only around 1800 hand built Mason
A2 systems built from 1964 until 1990. Complete, or
nearly systems are quite valuable, incomplete are not.

$ 1500

$ 5000+

Mason A2

Mason A2 TSCM Receiver System
1964 Vintage (ex-government unit, with sub-carrier)
likely will not include leather original caseHIGHLY COLLECTABLE, and valuable with
serial number below 100
Used value in excess of $12,000 if the unit is of
an early SN, or has a notable government user.
2 kHz to 2 GHz Coverage, with double demodulation

$ 1350

$ 2950+

$ 3995c1966

$ 11,985c1985

$ 5550c1966

$ 14,950c1985

Mason A2

F.G. Mason A2 TSCM Receiver System
Post 1968 Vintage (civilian unit)

$ 695

$ 1500

Mason A2C-S

F.G. Mason A2C TSCM Receiver System
All in one, Aluminum Case, Dual CRT Display
Somewhat collectable, only around 240 made, of
these 220 went to the U.S. Government for TSCM use.